Friday, August 3, 2012

The Murder of Maureen Cosgrove

Carshalton Beeches

Lucy Rees, 34, and
her boyfriend, George Maben, 45, by whom she was pregnant, had been
out for a drink together on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, before returning
to the home of Lucy’s mother, Maureen Cosgrove, 65, in the afternoon.
Maben, originally from Ireland but known as Geordie by family members
and friends, was not fond of encounters with Maureen because he was
well aware the widowed mother of four and doting grandmother of seven
did not care much for him. Nonetheless, he accompanied Lucy back to her
mother’s £700,000 house located in the affluent Surrey commuter
community of Carshalton Beeches, just south of Greater London.

Map of England with London and Carshalton Beeches locators

Located about 10 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross, the
traditional center of the London metropolis, Carshalton Beeches is an
area dotted with springs and ponds but still easily accessible to
London by car or public transportation. Maureen Cosgrove had left her
four-bedroom home that morning for an appointment with her dentist
about a mile away. When she returned home that morning to her mostly
crime-free neighborhood, she had likely not expected an encounter with
someone in her kitchen whose intent was to harm her. Similarly, as Lucy
made her way down the quiet tree-lined street of detached homes
accompanied by Maben, she did not expect to find the scene which
awaited her.
Lucy entered the house first, followed by Maben. Seeing that the
patio door was open, she went to close it. Then she saw her mother
lying on her back on the floor, her arms sprawled at her sides and her
eyes closed. They could both see that she was not breathing.

Detective Chief Inspectors

Unable to revive her mother, Lucy called for help. Paramedics were
dispatched to the home from London Ambulance Service, arriving on the
scene at 2:20 p.m. Tearful and still reeling from the grotesque
discovery, she explained how she had found her mother’s lifeless body.
Paramedics quickly determined that Maureen Cosgrove was quite dead and,
concluding that foul play was possibly involved, summoned the police
to the residence.
Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Tim Grattan-Cane was among the first
of the police to arrive, and he instructed murder squad officers to
cordon off the home as a crime scene. Grattan-Cane was accompanied by
DCI John McFarlane of the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Serious
Crime Command. Finding no indication of a burglary, they began piecing
together the victim’s movements.

Maureen Cosgrove

“I need to build a picture of what Mrs. Cosgrove was doing…before
she was killed—who she saw, who she spoke to, any information at all,”
McFarlane said during an appeal to the public for information. “I know
she was at a dental appointment in Banstead Road, Carshalton, until
10:07 a.m., and a neighbor saw Mrs. Cosgrove arriving home at 11:20 a.m.
in her silver Peugeot estate car.”
From the outset, McFarlane and Grattan-Cane were particularly
interested in speaking to the driver of a dark-colored estate car,
possibly a Volvo, which had been seen by neighbors parked on the street
near the Cosgrove house between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
“We need to trace the driver of this vehicle who may have vital
information,” McFarlane said. “At the very least, it will allow us to
eliminate the car from our inquiry.”
An autopsy conducted later at the St. Helier Hospital mortuary
listed Maureen’s cause of death as asphyxia, and the evidence,
particularly the injuries on her neck, showed that she had been
strangled. A forensic pathologist said that she had been “throttled,”
and that her killer had used a ligature to strangle her, a theory with
which the police were in full agreement.

The Cosgroves

The Cosgrove family was considered respectable by most who knew
them, but they were not without their problems. Lucy had battled drug
issues and had moved back in with her two children some five years
earlier. She had remained in the household to help her mother after her
father, Terence Cosgrove, a financial consultant, had been found
hanged in a park in 2007. Neighbors told police that Maureen and
Terence had often found it difficult to cope with their daughter’s drug
addiction, especially when she had lived with them.

Maureen Cosgrove

“Maureen and her late husband were very respectable, but the house
was troubled with drugs and family problems,” a neighbor told
investigators. “Lucy had a problem with drugs, I think, and there were a
lot of arguments.”
According to another neighbor, Lucy had been in danger of losing her
children to the authorities, prompting her to arrange to live with her
parents.
“It was too much for him to take and that is why he killed himself,” the neighbor said.
Still other area residents characterized the Cosgrove family as
“really good community people,” and many seemed shocked and genuinely
saddened when news of Maureen’s murder began circulating through the
community.
The Cosgroves also have two sons and another daughter, all of whom reside in the area.

Maureen

St. Philomena’s Catholic School for
Girls, Carshalton

Maureen Cosgrove had been a teaching assistant at St. Philomena’s
Catholic School for Girls in Carshalton, and had volunteered regularly
at Seaton House, a girls’ preparatory school. She and her husband had a
long-standing relationship with the school—Terence had acted as
treasurer and Maureen had assisted with the school’s finances. Both were
well-liked, and Maureen was particularly popular in the local
community and was known for devoting herself to her grandchildren.
“She was sweet, she was lovely,” said a friend and neighbor.
“She…always had time for everyone. When my husband died, she was a
shoulder to cry on…she was a great friend.”
Terence and Maureen were also involved in local charities, including
Radio Lollipop, where they had volunteered their services for
approximately 10 years, and years earlier one of their sons had worked
at the Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children in Carshalton.

Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children, Carshalton

“They were a close family and lived close to the hospital, offering
great support in the charity’s formative years,” said Hedley Finn,
chairman of Radio Lollipop. “They were social people, although I never
really got to know Mrs. Cosgrove.”
Her son, John Cosgrove, characterized his mother as a “lovely,
caring person” who was devoted to her family. He told investigators
that his mother was the caregiver of his sister’s two children.
“She looked after the children,” he said. “At the time, Lucy was
struggling so she helped out.” As to his mother’s murder, he added: “We
just can’t understand what has happened. It still hasn’t sunk in. We
are confident the police will eventually come up with an answer….She
was…highly respected and did lots in the community….”

George Maben

George Maben

When investigators interviewed George Maben, he explained that he
was in a relationship with Lucy and that they had been together for
about two years. He said that Lucy was pregnant with his child.
Although he lived with his 82-year-old mother, Maben said that he often
stayed at the Cosgrove residence and confirmed that Maureen had
provided most of the childcare for Lucy’s two children. He told the
detectives that his relationship with Maureen was not solid, that it
was “up and down,” and it was learned during the course of the
investigation that he had told others that he felt that Mrs. Cosgrove
did not approve of him.
On the day of the murder he said that he had arranged to meet with
Lucy in the nearby Sutton town center at 11:30 a.m., and they had sat
outside a pub and had a drink. At one point, Lucy had attempted to
reach her mother by telephone, but Maureen had not responded. Lucy then
called her sister to see if she had seen or spoken to their mother,
only to learn that she had not. After leaving the pub, he said that he
and Lucy had done some shopping before driving back to Maureen’s house.
He then explained how they had found Maureen’s body, and also told
how he had noticed that the back gate was open, the laundry door was
open, and a side door was also ajar, this in addition to the back patio
door being open. He said that all this was unusual because Maureen was
very security conscious and would not have left any of the doors open
or ajar. He said that it was his opinion that Maureen had been killed
during a burglary that had gone awry. When asked if anything appeared to
be missing, Lucy noted that her mother’s handbag was nowhere to be
found.
One of the officers taking Maben’s statement noticed that he had
sustained an injury to one of his hands. The officer noted that the
injury was not a cut or a bruise, but had the appearance of a
“friction” mark. When asked how he had injured his hand, Maben
explained that he had been repairing his own mother’s washing machine
and that the injury had occurred when he pulled the washing machine out
from the wall.

A Missing Handbag

DCI McFarlane and his murder squad detectives made a public appeal
for any information about Maureen Cosgrove’s murder, and asked for the
public’s help in locating her elusive handbag. He described it as dark
navy blue or black with a long shoulder strap, a large flap over the
front with which to close it, and rounded corners.
“I am not saying that it was stolen or that it is missing, just that
we have been unable to locate it,” McFarlane said. “She regularly
carried it and we can’t find it at the moment. I ask members of the
public that live in Carshalton area to have a look in their garden and
see if any handbags have been disposed of there.”
As a result of the appeals for the public to come forward with
information, the murder squad detectives were able to piece together
Maureen’s movements on the day she was murdered. In addition to
confirming details of her dental appointment, the cops learned that she
had donated clothing items to St. Raphael’s charity shop just prior to
having been seen arriving at her home at 11:20 a.m. No information,
however, was received about her missing handbag.
On Monday, March 30, 2009, investigators found the driver of the
dark-colored estate car parked in Maureen’s neighborhood at or near the
time of her death and quickly eliminated him from further
investigation.
In the hours that followed, investigators developed information
indicating that Maureen may have had a chance meeting with an old
friend at some point between leaving her dentist’s office and arriving
at her home. They did not know the identity of the “old friend,” and
unfortunately were unable to develop the lead any further despite
additional pleas for the public’s help. They declined to comment on how
the lead had been developed initially.
The police never recovered Maureen’s handbag, but continued to
discount the theory that it might have been taken during a burglary.

Nightmares

In the aftermath of her mother’s murder, Lucy said that nightmares
had haunted her ever since discovering her mother’s body as it lay on
the kitchen floor. She told police and others that she had known right
away that her mother was dead. She had called for emergency assistance,
and was told by paramedics and police to stay out of the kitchen.
“It was awful,” she said. “I think it speaks for itself…I have had
nightmares ever since. I don’t think that image will ever leave my
head.”
She also refuted claims that Maureen had been the primary caregiver
for her children, and said that assertions made by her neighbors that
her father had killed himself because of the personal issues and living
arrangements besetting their family were untrue.
“My mother was helping out,” she said. “But she did not have
custody. My father doted on the children and loved having them around.”
She said that her children looked up to her father, and that he had
been akin to a father figure when their own father was not there. He
helped her oldest son on the computer, took the children swimming and
read stories to them. Lucy said that her mother once told her that it
had been her and the children that had helped her get over Terence’s
suicide.
“We had a very close relationship,” she said. “She was there for me when I needed her as any mother would be for her children.”

Detective Work

During the first days of the investigation, detectives visited the
home where George Maben lived in Rosehill with his mother in an attempt
to verify his claim about how he had injured his hand. However, they
saw nothing to indicate that the washing machine had been moved
recently, as Maben had stated. Now believing that Maben had lied to
them and with little to lead them toward anyone else, the murder squad
detectives moved the intensity of their probe up a notch, making Maben
their primary focal point.
Not swiftly getting anywhere, DCI McFarlane tried another approach
and ordered that hundreds of hours of closed-circuit television footage
from the day of the murder be retrieved and reviewed to check out
Maben’s alibi, footage of the locations where Maben had told them he
had been on March 24. The effort paid off. Investigators discovered
that Maben had met Lucy at the pub where they had their drink an hour
later than he had told them. Another lie, it seemed.
Although gut feelings had led DCI McFarlane and his team to believe
that Maben was their man earlier in their investigation, they were now
all but certain that he was the murderer. For their case to stand up in
court, however, they needed additional evidence before charging him
with Maureen Cosgrove’s murder.
Detectives had obtained a black jacket that Maben had been wearing
on the day of the murder, and ran a forensic analysis on it for
evidence. They found a number of fibers that were believed to have
originated from a red top worn by Maureen on the day she was killed,
and the investigators reasoned that they could only have gotten onto
Maben’s jacket as a result of close contact with the victim. Not
surprisingly, the forensics team also found a number of black fibers on
Maureen’s body that were similar to fibers from Maben’s coat.

Caught on Tape

As the detectives continued reviewing the closed-circuit tapes they
discovered additional footage showing Maben getting off a bus near
Maureen’s home near the time of the murder. He was seen in the tape
putting on a pair of gloves. When police re-interviewed him and asked
him about the gloves, he calmly explained that he could not find them
and claimed that his dog must have eaten them, a story that police had
difficulty accepting.
They learned through interviews with others that Mrs. Cosgrove had
not liked Maben because she considered him lazy, someone who did not
like to work, and not a suitable match for her daughter. The
information gave police a theory as to motive, albeit a thin one: they
hypothesized Maben had killed Maureen because he had viewed her as an
obstacle to marrying Lucy. If true, it painted a picture of Maben as
especially cold and calculating, since the time stamps on the various
videotapes showed that he had met Lucy for a drink after
having been taped getting off the bus near Maureen’s home. If he had
killed Maureen, he had accompanied Lucy during the outing while
harboring the knowledge that he had just killed Lucy’s mother.
As a result of the mounting evidence being collected against their
prime suspect, McFarlane received authorization to place a bugging
device inside Maben’s car. They followed him around for a few days,
watching his every move and taping everything that was said in his car.
It did not take long for police to get what they needed to make an
arrest. On Thursday, April 9, 2009, detectives heard him praying to God
and asking for forgiveness:
“Please God, help me…for me and Lucy eliminated from all police
inquiries and everything’s all right, please, God, help me…God forgive
me for what I have done,” he was heard sobbing. “I just could not take
it anymore. Every single day she was breaking me down. Please God, will
you forgive me?”
Upon hearing the prayer, which they construed as a confession,
police arrested Maben and charged him with Maureen Cosgrove’s murder.

Trial

At his trial, held in early November 2009 at London’s Old Bailey,
prosecutor Anthony Glass took the jury through the details of the case
and urged them to interpret his “prayer” as a confession to murder.
“He provides in those words the motive or reason for the killing,”
Glass said. “Clearly, relations between the defendant and the
grandmother had seriously deteriorated. With her out of the way, the
defendant could see a future for himself, Lucy, her children and the
unborn baby unencumbered by any constraints imposed by Maureen
Cosgrove.”
Glass pointed out that the cause of death was asphyxia.
“What he did was to put a ligature around her neck and squeeze the
life out of her,” Glass added. “No one has seen him do it, which is
often the case in murder. The evidence against him amounts to a series
of compelling facts and circumstances, many of which are not in
dispute, which when taken together add up to a formidable case against
him.”

Summing Up

The jury found Maben guilty of murder in short order. Judge Jeremy
Roberts had mercy on the unemployed murderer, facing a life sentence,
reducing his sentence to a minimum of 13 years in prison before
becoming eligible for parole. Although the judge considered Cosgrove’s
murder a premeditated act by Maben, Roberts said that it was out of
character for Maben and found that he had been under “enormous
pressure” because of Cosgrove’s feelings toward him. Roberts believed
that Maben must have seen murder as his only option to remain with the
woman he loved, and their baby.
“It was illustrated by your prayer for forgiveness which was
recorded by police,” Roberts told the defendant as he pronounced
sentence. “It was no one’s fault that the situation developed where
your relationship with Lucy, whom you loved deeply, and her mother,
whom you must have seen as an obstacle, drove you to such an act of
desperation.”
Outside the courthouse, DCI McFarlane concluded that the entire
ordeal was “terrible” for the families on both sides, but was
especially terrible for Lucy: “She has a child by the killer of her own
mother…Maben was a cool, manipulative character throughout the
investigation. But here, where he lets down his guard, we hear the
motivation behind his actions. He liked to control, but Maureen
Cosgrove would not be controlled. Their relationship had seriously
deteriorated and he was resentful of her positive influence on her
daughter. He wanted Maureen out of the way so that he could take
control of Lucy’s life.
“During the trial,” he continued, “he has sought to avoid
responsibility for his actions and tried to blame everyone but himself.
He committed an unforgivable crime against a family that took him in
and supported him. Their bravery in the face of the loss of a loving
mother is commendable. They should have been looking forward to many
more years of happy family life and George Maben has robbed them of
that future.”